Now it's Sir Maurice
10:10am Thursday 17th June 2010 in North West
A HIGH flying business executive has received a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
A HIGH flying business executive has received a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
For Leigh-born Maurice Flanagan it is his second royal recognition in a decade for his work in the aviation industry.
He has been involved in every stage of Emirates Airlines’ remarkable rise from small regional carrier with two planes to global airlines giant.
The 82-years-old airline veteran and executive vice chairman, who received the CBE in 2000, arrived in Dubai in 1978 when he was appointed director and general manager of Dnata.
It was a move which would shape his life as six years later he led the 10-man team which hatched the plan to launch an airline in five months on a budget of just $10million.
He was the managing director for the inaugural Emirates flight in 1985 and his role in the company’s development was recognised in 1990 when he was appointed group managing director of Emirates Group.
Mr Flanagan became Vice Chairman and Group President in July 2003 and was promoted to his current role in 2006.
Born in Leigh Maurice moved to Warrington with his family at the age of 14.
Today he has homes in Cheshire, Dubai and a flat in Chelsea He started his career in 1953 with BOAC as a graduate trainee after serving in the Royal Air Force as a navigation officer. He ascended through a variety of overseas posts and returned to the UK in 1965 as a route planning manager.
In 1974, he joined British Airways’ senior management team where he gained the experience which prepared him for the part he would play in the history of Emirates.
He regards himself fortunate to have served since the start of the airline under its charismatic chairman, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, and with the support of an exceptionally talented group of colleagues.
He has collected a series of airline industry awards en route along with an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Bradford, while the University of Liverpool presented him with an honorary Doctor of Laws in recognition of his leadership, innovation and influence in the aviation industry.
In addition, Mr Flanagan has been made a liveryman of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators and a Freeman of the City of London.
